The Saga of Crystar: Marvel Revives Lost '80s Hero

Crystar the Crystal Warrior returns in Rob Liefeld's Deadpool Team-Up.

By Cameron Bonomolo

The saga of Crystalium continues. More than 40 years after Crystar first appeared in the pages of 1983's The Saga of Crystar: Crystal Warrior #1, the Prince of Galax returns to the Marvel Universe in Deadpool Team-Up. Wade Wilson's co-creator, Rob Liefeld, writes and draws the five-issue miniseries teaming the Merc with a Mouth with major Marvel heroes — including Wolverine, the Hulk, and Ghost-Spider — alongside long-lost Marvel characters like Crystar, Ral Dorn the Dragon Lord, and Liefeld creations Lady Anime and Major X.

Liefeld's final Deadpool comic marks Crystar's first appearance since 2018, when his crystalized form was shattered while defending the Crystal Labyrinth from an assault by Eshu, Master of Wierdworld, during the final issue of Jim Zub and Max Dunbar's Champions run. However, his army of Crystal Warriors revealed they could resurrect the leader of New Crystalium by fusing together the enchanted crystals that revived Crystar in The Saga of Crystar: Crystal Warrior #1.

"Everyone has that one comic with that obscure character that they've always wanted more of," Liefeld exclusively told ComicBook. "l, myself, have several of these and I pulled them from relative obscurity from the deepest corners of the Marvel Universe and placed them next to Deadpool, right at the center of an all new, cataclysmic adventure. This is some wonderfully weird stuff and I'm so excited to share it with the world."

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Unlike Marvel's toy-based Micronauts and Rom comics of the time, Crystar was not licensed from a toy company — The Saga of Crystar originated at Marvel, which licensed the likeness of the characters and creatures to Remco Toys.

The Saga of Crystar, Marvel's Crystal Warrior

The crystal crusader's shiny new 11-issue comic book was featured in the premiere issue of Marvel Age in early 1983. Presented by Stan Lee, Crystar's first issue was written by Mary Jo Duffy (Power Man and Iron Fist) with art by Bret Blevins (Marvel's comic book adaptation of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal) and inks by Vince Colletta (The Fantastic Four), with Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men artist John Romita Jr. serving as graphic designer.

Marvel editors Ralph Macchio and Mark Gruenwald were the concept creators with Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who also conceptualized another toy tie-in comic: the 12-part crossover Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Marvel's version of a sword and sorcery series introduced such characters as King Moltar the First, the wizard Ogeode, the crystal woman Ika, and the sorcerer Zardeth. It told a tale of the war between the demon lord Chaos and the forces of Order, a war between twin princes for the throne of the city of Galax on the planet Crystalium, and the war between Moltar's molten minions, the Magma Men, and Crystar's Crystal Warriors, transformed into crystal men by the Prisma-Crystal.

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Michael Z. Hobson, Marvel's then vice president of publishing, tasked Shooter with developing a fantasy concept of a mystical world with "strange beings" and "weird monsters," Shooter recalled in a letter introducing the first issue. If the Marvel Universe was the world outside your window, populated by colorful characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Doctor Strange, then this fantastical creation would be one not unlike Henson's fairy tale Dark Crystal, George Lucas' sci-fi saga Star Wars, or J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

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"There was a strong feeling editorially and, I think, in the sales department as well, that Marvel ought to be doing some kind of a fantasy book besides the sword and sorcery type material it's been doing," Duffy said in Marvel Age #1. "Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio (as writers), and John Romita Jr. (as illustrator) put their heads together and came up with the original Crystar concept." Along with Shooter and Doug Polumbaum from Marvel's licensing department, they developed the character designs and concept that were eventually fleshed out by Duffy and Blevins. 

So began the saga of Crystar. Deadpool Team-Up #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

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